Each pulse produced by a dolphin is different from another in its time span and frequencies.

We can assume that each pulse represents a phoneme or a word of the dolphin’s spoken language.

According to Dr Ryabov, the ‘highly developed’ language has all the design features present in human spoken languages, which indicates a high level of intelligence and consciousness in dolphins.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like we’ll be able to decipher their language anytime soon – so no hope of finding out exactly when they’re planning to takeover the world – as Dr Ryabov says their speech lies ‘beyond the time and frequency characteristics of the human hearing’.

He does, however, believe the findings should provide incentive for humans to further develop relationships and improve communication with the creatures.